Shoelaces have been utilized for many years as an apparatus for retaining shoes or other footwear on a user's feet. Such footwear includes boots and sports shoes/equipment, including, skates, running shoes, cleats, high-tops, tennis shoes, etc. Shoelace are traditionally constructed from a length of woven material having ends that include aglets for preventing fraying of the shoelace during use. Since the inception of the shoelaces, many have modified this traditional type shoelace.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,489 to Tseng discloses a multi-purpose shoelace structure that comprises a shoelace flatly woven via multiple layers of side-by-side warps yarns and weft yarns interlacing back and forth the warp yarns thereof. When the shoelace is stringed through buttonholes of a shoe body and tied up into a knot, both ends of the shoelace are led through an elastic tying sections in the shoelace, thereby providing double protection in case the knot gets loose when the users are walking, running, or cycling. Both ends of the shoelace can also be led through the elastic tying sections in crisscross manner for more variety thereof.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,459 to Curet et al. discloses an adjustable shoelace that includes a stretchable string having a first cross sectional diameter at rest and a second smaller cross sectional diameter when stretched. An aglet having an inner cross sectional diameter that is smaller than the cross sectional diameter of the string at rest is positioned on the string. The aglet can be repositioned along the string by stretching the string such that the diameter of the string is approximate to the inner diameter of the aglet.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,910 to Dischler discloses method and apparatus having an enhanced knot retention. Specifically, method includes tying a knot and applying a fluid comprising a frictive agent to at least the tied knot, and then allowing the agent to dry.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,548 to Jackson discloses a system for securing a shoe. The system includes an elastic shoelace having a pair of ends that are covered with an elastomeric material, and a dual cord fastener that allow the shoelace ends to pass through and that locks the shoelace from moving relative to the fastener.
These shoelaces, however, even though they may contain features for adjusting or better retaining the shoelaces in a knot, do not address the issues resolved by the elastic shoelace of the present disclosure.